Big Dipper and Firefly

In a night exposure of Big Dipper and oak trees, a firefly pass across the view and left a bright green serendipitous signature. Fireflies are nocturnal members of the beetle family Lampyridae. They meander curvaceous through the atmosphere producing their cold, green light via a biochemical reaction between oxygen and luciferin. As noted by the photographer “The Big Dipper was the second constellation asterism I ever recognized in the night sky. The stars were difficult to see from Los Angeles in 1968, but the Dipper managed to punch through the hideous, light-illuminated smog”.